UPDATE 12/12/08 at 5:41 pm
Ashley got the all clear, she will be back in school on Monday. The stool sample collected for the Liver Clinic at Shands yielded negative results. The verdict is that Ashley had a viral infection that irritated her bowels causing her to bleed. She is not bleeding anymore and her stools are normal. Ashley is so excited to be normal again and is so ready to get back to school! Thanks everyone for your prayers; they worked.
_____________________________
First, we received the results from Ashley's first stool sample, the one that we collected at her pediatrician's office. Dr. Lacy called about 5 pm yesterday to tell me the results were negative so he believes that whatever Ashley has that it is viral. But now we wait for the C Diff results from the liver clinic at Shands, I expect to get those results today.
_____________________________
Now on to the Friday Flashback, where I go back in time and share memories.
When Ashley was first diagnosed with biliary atresia, I wasn't scared but I was numb. I had no idea what having biliary atresia meant. Ashley's doctors told us not to look on the Internet, that we would find outdated material and not a whole lot of information. Of course, I ignored them and my friend, Robin, spent hours on the Internet researching biliary atresia while I was at the hospital with Ashley. Robin would bring me stacks of paper on biliary atresia. Often she'd bring them with tears in her eyes. The information on the Internet in 1998 regarding biliary atresia was not very hopeful. There were babies dying without ever receiving a liver transplant, there were stories of babies living their lives in and out of hospitals, there were babies requiring two and three liver transplants and there were parents burying their children before their first birthday. I remember thinking, "Oh God, this is going to happen to Ashley." "How I am I going to tell her brother that his sister is going to die." Then I let all of those negative thoughts go and I fought God. I was determined not to let bad things happen to Ashley; to us.
As I was looking at Ashley in her hospital bed in her ICU room at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando, I prayed. But my prayers weren't "if this is God's will"; I did not let go and let God. My prayer was begging God not to take Ashley from me. I told God that He could not have Ashley back because I love her more than HE possibly could. I told God that I would do everything humanly possibly to make sure Ashley grows up as a child of God. There were many things I told God that morning in prayer but my prayer was not a typical prayer, it was a prayer that many "clergy" would say was inappropriate, they would tell me that it was the wrong way to pray. But I didn't care, I was going to fight for my daughter's life even if it meant fighting God.
It was hard leaving Ashley in the ICU room every night to go home to our house without her. It was even harder explaining to Brad why Ashley wasn't home with us. There were many nights that Joey and I cried ourselves to sleep as we prayed, begged God to spare Ashley's life. As stressful as that time was, it was also very beautiful; beautiful because it was the first time in our eight year marriage that my husband and I prayed together, with hands wrapped around each others. It was the first time that you would find all three of us knelling beside Brad's bed in prayer. It was the first time I realized the importance of my life as a wife and mom. Nothing was more important to me than my husband and both my children. Just as I have devoted my life to God, I began to realize that my devotion to my family had to be just as strong, just as faithful, and just as certain.
Early one morning we get a call from the hospital stating that Ashley had stopped breathing but thankfully was resuscitated. Joey and I drove to the hospital in record time, I am completely amazed we didn't get a ticket or worse get in an accident. On the way to the hospital, I was mumbling in prayer, shaking, crying and telling Joey to hurry up. It wasn't until I looked at Joey's face as we drove down SR 417, that I realized he was hurting too. As a noticed a small tear running down his face, I wiped it off with my finger and without a word I graped his hand and squeezed it. We had to be each others strength, if our marriage was going to survive this crisis.
The day after Ashley stopped breathing, the doctors were making their rounds and we were told that they were going to try to remove Ashley off the ventilator. Joey and I left Ashley's ICU room and went to the hospital cafeteria. Here in the cafeteria we prayed. After our prayer, we both felt a sense of peace. It was a strange feeling, a feeling of warmth; a sense that Ashley was going to be fine. As we made our way back to Ashley's ICU room, we walked in and noticed Ashley was free of many wires and I was finally able to hold her. After 5 days of fighting God, God finally gave her back to me.
Ashley got the all clear, she will be back in school on Monday. The stool sample collected for the Liver Clinic at Shands yielded negative results. The verdict is that Ashley had a viral infection that irritated her bowels causing her to bleed. She is not bleeding anymore and her stools are normal. Ashley is so excited to be normal again and is so ready to get back to school! Thanks everyone for your prayers; they worked.
_____________________________
First, we received the results from Ashley's first stool sample, the one that we collected at her pediatrician's office. Dr. Lacy called about 5 pm yesterday to tell me the results were negative so he believes that whatever Ashley has that it is viral. But now we wait for the C Diff results from the liver clinic at Shands, I expect to get those results today.
_____________________________
Now on to the Friday Flashback, where I go back in time and share memories.
When Ashley was first diagnosed with biliary atresia, I wasn't scared but I was numb. I had no idea what having biliary atresia meant. Ashley's doctors told us not to look on the Internet, that we would find outdated material and not a whole lot of information. Of course, I ignored them and my friend, Robin, spent hours on the Internet researching biliary atresia while I was at the hospital with Ashley. Robin would bring me stacks of paper on biliary atresia. Often she'd bring them with tears in her eyes. The information on the Internet in 1998 regarding biliary atresia was not very hopeful. There were babies dying without ever receiving a liver transplant, there were stories of babies living their lives in and out of hospitals, there were babies requiring two and three liver transplants and there were parents burying their children before their first birthday. I remember thinking, "Oh God, this is going to happen to Ashley." "How I am I going to tell her brother that his sister is going to die." Then I let all of those negative thoughts go and I fought God. I was determined not to let bad things happen to Ashley; to us.
As I was looking at Ashley in her hospital bed in her ICU room at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando, I prayed. But my prayers weren't "if this is God's will"; I did not let go and let God. My prayer was begging God not to take Ashley from me. I told God that He could not have Ashley back because I love her more than HE possibly could. I told God that I would do everything humanly possibly to make sure Ashley grows up as a child of God. There were many things I told God that morning in prayer but my prayer was not a typical prayer, it was a prayer that many "clergy" would say was inappropriate, they would tell me that it was the wrong way to pray. But I didn't care, I was going to fight for my daughter's life even if it meant fighting God.
It was hard leaving Ashley in the ICU room every night to go home to our house without her. It was even harder explaining to Brad why Ashley wasn't home with us. There were many nights that Joey and I cried ourselves to sleep as we prayed, begged God to spare Ashley's life. As stressful as that time was, it was also very beautiful; beautiful because it was the first time in our eight year marriage that my husband and I prayed together, with hands wrapped around each others. It was the first time that you would find all three of us knelling beside Brad's bed in prayer. It was the first time I realized the importance of my life as a wife and mom. Nothing was more important to me than my husband and both my children. Just as I have devoted my life to God, I began to realize that my devotion to my family had to be just as strong, just as faithful, and just as certain.
Early one morning we get a call from the hospital stating that Ashley had stopped breathing but thankfully was resuscitated. Joey and I drove to the hospital in record time, I am completely amazed we didn't get a ticket or worse get in an accident. On the way to the hospital, I was mumbling in prayer, shaking, crying and telling Joey to hurry up. It wasn't until I looked at Joey's face as we drove down SR 417, that I realized he was hurting too. As a noticed a small tear running down his face, I wiped it off with my finger and without a word I graped his hand and squeezed it. We had to be each others strength, if our marriage was going to survive this crisis.
The day after Ashley stopped breathing, the doctors were making their rounds and we were told that they were going to try to remove Ashley off the ventilator. Joey and I left Ashley's ICU room and went to the hospital cafeteria. Here in the cafeteria we prayed. After our prayer, we both felt a sense of peace. It was a strange feeling, a feeling of warmth; a sense that Ashley was going to be fine. As we made our way back to Ashley's ICU room, we walked in and noticed Ashley was free of many wires and I was finally able to hold her. After 5 days of fighting God, God finally gave her back to me.
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